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Wilson Lands Rights to Louisville Slugger

3/24/2015 10:44AM

The company behind Louisville Slugger bats has sold the rights to the bat-making operation to the Wilson Sporting Goods company for $70 million. WSJ's Sara Germano joins MoneyBeat to explain. Photo: Getty

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... for more than a century the iconic Louisville slugger baseball bat ... has been in the hands of one company ... but the struggling killer chicken brats be on Monday struck a deal ... in local state of the pack and the company Sara Germano has the story joins us right now sad to see you again if I'm so this story in this room and in a deal but it's a little convoluted explain to us exactly with what's happening here said yes so I made credibility fodder they are making the spa baths firmer than thirty years on the pen ... basically family owned and operated for that to ration of that time ... and that this is the story of like a truly ... small family owned American company that is ... now in the industry has grown so far outside of what its capacity it would ... be sold the rights basically the intellectual property the marketing ... revenues in all that too will stand firm which has fallen from the sporting goods company right sporting events company they make a lot of on their most famous for their bids on that sometimes the Wilson will now acquire all of that ... but Election brads people still own and operate in manufacturing facilities in Louisville so they still have a little bit of ... in the peace that business and the table and ... you know ... this is not that they operate is an easy and they are getting re brekkie at the Bank of Kentucky may know the ... the Louisville slugger on ... him and for the current ... price they saw that ... this is ... the outlook this is this pre said the company to lay off a big portion of the staff I mean there there's said this is not a for sale they had to do this to ... see the brand is becoming one five million Toronto million to one of the new story to think and that is ... just the fact that ... a family owned company was actually able to survive for so long selling basically one prob ... I mean it really speaks to the power of ... no pun intended ... the power that are ... yet to lay in it so it so interesting because ... you know most sporting goods company has been outsourced their manufacturing and and and this is the known example of a company that has enjoyed for so long doing math and ... their manufacturing here ... you know they tried to scale they try to be a bigger competitor in the business can really backfire on them because they outsource ... some other non went back production to China ... and they can be really hard because the Apple TV recall reading ... and they had to get some new financing because some of their bank interesting ... I ... you know where it has to be as to whether you know that would work out so they've had some missteps along the way while they were trying to get ... and to be bitter competitor ... but he stands for lessons ... the question can a product that is essentially the same as it was in the nineteenth century ... make it in the twenty first century ... aam ... the height of the fall consumer you're speaking to the wooden babbled are still the official license wouldn't that be MLP ... most people EC playing at the pro Apple they're using the legal right apps ... but the pros are really the only ones using button that if the college students in high school students were using non wood ... aluminum compound back and ask for Louvel has couple that's not really there are four ... other companies that have none ... so and ... there's new regulations as to how the stats are ... and what components they can have been ... all that changing like they are still new at the hearing now and that's when giving to yourself ... that night we had to leave their sound think you're a much appreciated thing